FG Moves to reduce Nigerian Banned Products from Global Market

THE Federal Government is intensifying efforts to improve the country’s trade relationships in the global market as a way of reducing the long list of Nigerian products that are banned from the international market.

Disclosing this yesterday in Abuja at a press briefing in honor of World Trade Organization delegation in Nigeria, the Trade Adviser and Chief Negotiator to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chiedu Osakwe  stated  that the delegation is in the country to review Nigeria trade policy with the organization.

The Adviser explained that the review will encourage smart digital economic growth (soft world developers and e business among others) in Nigeria, tackle the long list of banned products and review the high cost of imports into Nigeria while the profit goes to foreigners.

Osakwe noted that the review will encourage diversification, “for Nigeria to access global market, there is need for the country to review its structural, monetary and fiscal policies to identify shortcomings, and close these gaps for competitiveness in the global market”.

He stated further that “multilateral organizations like the World Trade Organization, WTO are indispensable in ensuring that there is order in the global market or the world would be a jungle”.

Speaking at the event, the leader of the delegation Jacques Degbello, Head-Africa and Management Trade Policies Review Division, WTO stated that the review is timely as he insisted the review demands transparency mechanism in the global market.

Created in 1995, the World Trade Organization has the mandate to review member’s trade policy, the reviews focus on member’s own trade policies and practices. But they (WTO) also take into account the countries wider economic and developmental needs, their policies and objectives, and the external economic environment that they face.

These “ peer reviews” by other WTO members encourage governments to follow more closely the WTO rules and disciplines and to fulfill their commitments. In the practice the reviews have two broad results: they enable outsiders to understand a country’s policies and circumstances and they provide feedback to the reviewed country on its performance in the system.

For each review, two documents are prepared, a policy statement by the government under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two reports, together with the proceedings of the Trade Policy Review Body’s meeting are published shortly afterward.